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Posted on January 31, 2012

Groups set to improve health care

THE ASSOCIATION of Deans of Philippine Colleges of Nursing (ADPCN) and the Retirement & Healthcare Coalition (RHC) are collaborating on seminars to help improve hospital standards, the latter business group said in a statement yesterday.

Senior nursing students and medical professionals from the 450 member schools of ADPCN will send delegates to RHC-hosted seminars in a bid to transform the Philippines into a “prime international retirement destination.”

“We have recommended to our member schools that they attend the seminars along with their senior nursing students,” ADPCN president Elizabeth R. Roxas said in a statement.

The seminars are designed to prepare participants to undergo certification managed by Germany-based management system groups.

System to upgrade standards

THE TRADE and Agriculture departments are putting up a product traceability system to help agribusiness exporters meet global safety and security standards, the former agency said in a statement yesterday.

The three-year project dubbed as Program on Philippine Traceability for Revitalized Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement (P-TRACE) will be implemented with the technical cooperation of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization.

The program is up for possible funding assistance worth $5.8 million through the “debt-for-development swap” agreement with the Italian Cooperation Agency.

“We hope to implement P-TRACE within the year. We already identified five priority projects in the agriculture and fisheries sector,” Trade Undersecretary Merly M. Cruz said in a statement. The five priority areas are banana chips and crackers, fresh and processed pineapples, desiccated coconut, chilled tuna and dried mango.

The traceability system involves creating tracking documents detailing the movement of food products along the supply chain. The system can help identify the cause of food safety concerns or quality problems, allowing stakeholders to take prompt corrective measures.

E. Visayas strike-free for nine years

TACLOBAN CITY -- Eastern Visayas has been free of labor strikes in the past nine years, boosting efforts to draw investments, a local Labor official said.

“In inviting investors, we have to show them that we are business-friendly and there’s industrial peace in the area,” said Forter G. Puguon, Department of Labor and Employment regional director.

He attributed the situation to the establishment of industrial peace councils, enforcement of labor standards, and promotion of social accords.

The last strike recorded by the National Conciliation and Mediation Board was on Feb. 24, 2003 during a deadlock in collective bargaining negotiations at the Eastern Samar Electric Cooperative in Borongan, in Eastern Samar province.

Mr. Puguon said the optimism will be sustained this year with more firms joining the Regional Tripartite Industrial Peace Councils. -- Sarwell Q. Meniano